Questions adding up for Morata

Alvaro Morata has been out with back problems and Chelsea have certainly noticed his absence. The video showing the striker, who could be facing season-ending chronic back pain, spinning his wife around has been the latest incident to raise questions.

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Antonio Conte revealed he was in the dark over when Alvaro Morata would return to the team. The video with his wife, added to the fact that he hasn't found the back of the net since Boxing Day, has brought on criticism.

Morata responded by claiming he is fit to play against West Brom on Monday night, and Chelsea need him back more than ever. Back-to-back humbling defeats at the hands of Bournemouth and Watford have put Conte in a difficult position, and fans are growing impatient over Morata's return.

Chelsea have their striker in at their Cobham headquarters every day, trying to manage the injury and find a solution through physiotherapy, but the problems persist ever since he first started having back pain as early as mid-December. After making a couple of fleeting appearances in January, the striker has been out for almost a month.

Morata has not helped alleviate tensions during his time on the sidelines, with Chelsea’s £70.6million record signing publicly courting a move back to Real Madrid. It is not the first time Morata has spoken of a desire to return to his homeland. In October he was speaking of how he didn’t seem himself in London "for very long".

The situation for Morata is a bleak one, with goals drying up on the pitch, back problems keeping him out and his team struggling without him. Now, the focus is on the Spaniard to reignite Chelsea’s season with a potential return mooted, by the striker himself, against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night.

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